Farmer's Almanac: Cold winter with snow, sleet, rain ahead

Count one more prognosticator among those calling for a snowy winter in Maryland -- the Farmer's Almanac.

The publication's winter outlook calls for cold and moisture across the Northeast and Great Lakes region. That could mean a lot of snow for the northern parts, but some sleet and rain mixed in for the mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley, according to the forecast.

The almanac has pegged February 12–15 and March 20–23 for "major coastal storms along the Atlantic seaboard" -- as in, potential repeats of Snowmageddon-like storms.

Expectations of snow for the East Coast stem from the fact that the climate phenomenon known as El Nino is likely to form by the end of this month. El Nino is known for producing the right conditions to spawn winter storms across much of the east, though it doesn't guarantee they will all come together at the same time.

Last winter's 1.8 inches of snow, as measured at BWI Airport, was the least since the winter of 1972-1973. The norm for Maryland is about 20 inches of snow over a season. Two winters ago, Baltimore totaled 14.4 inches, while the year before that, the Snowmageddon storm pushed the total to 77 inches.